connect the dots
Feb 20, 2008 @ 17:01
Meteor in Portland
Navy Waits for Satellite Kill Shot
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Huge meteor tears across early-morning sky
Weather May Delay Satellite Shot
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...
anything but that
Feb 15, 2008 @ 10:29
semantic sombitch
Feb 13, 2008 @ 22:02
So I was thinking about the abso-fucking-lutely disgusting Orwellian semantic parsing of chinese water torture as not that but an "enhanced interrogation technique." (I can't even type it without my blood boiling.)
So if we can sell torturing people to the public by calling it "enhanced interrogation techniques" instead, what else could we do with this fun word game?
Well... you could maybe rob a bank and tell the judge it was just an "enhanced withdrawal technique."
But that isn't quite spiteful enough against President Shitforbrains.
Here's one for you: how about the House passes a resolution and set of charges, that is then passed on to the Senate for a vote and verdict, for the purposes of removing Bush from office.
What's that Nancy Pelosi? Impeachment is off the table? No, No... I'm talking about an "enhanced oversight technique." Totally fucking different.
Oh... and did you know that evidence obtained through water torture probably hasn't been used in a trial since the Spanish Inquisition? Go us!
thought stream
Feb 13, 2008 @ 17:09
I have to wonder if comic books aren't the blame for the apathy of Generation X?
X-Men is on TV right now. I tuned in just to catch the scene where the Senator is addressing the chamber about the threat of Mutants.
I mean, it isn't a very tough metaphorical stretch to garner that Stan Lee is talking about the mutant in all of us and the outcasts of society, and how the majority can marginalize and oppress. I'm sure he felt like a mutant growing up. A lot of us do.
But in real life, there are no super heroes. There is no Professor X or Wolverine fighting for anything good in this world. And I don't think the analogy translates so well in the other direction. I don't think everybody looks in the mirror and sees their own personal mutant super hero. I think these Generation X-ers who read these comics came to think that there'd always be somebody else out there to fight their battles for them, and that everything would just be ok in the end.
torture tickles
Jan 30, 2008 @ 18:29
"We've taken steps to address the issue of interrogations, for instance, and waterboarding has not been used in years."
-John Negroponte, former US Director of National Intelligence
Now to me this gives us a simple process:
1. Subpoena John Negroponte to testify under oath to Congress on this quote.
UPDATE:
1. "Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees," CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
2. Pursuant to number one, as waterboarding is a war crime that has been prosecuted by the US and the international community in previous cases, open a criminal investigation.
3. As current Attorney General Mukasey has testified under oath to the Senate that the waterboarding use by the US was authorized, and as waterboarding is a war crime, obtain these authorizations as evidence in the criminal case.
4. Use the names from the waterboarding authorizations as the defendants in the criminal case. Or, if the authorizations are not handed over, bring charges of obstruction of justice against whoever is withholding them.
Of course, I imagine the problem here is that the Justice Department is the only place where this criminal investigation can be opened. And, secondly, the Justice Department is the only body that can issue obstruction of justice charges. (Anybody know if I'm right on these two points?) And, of course, Mukasey won't allow either.
Can Congress impeach an Attorney General? Yes, I do believe so. At the federal level, Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that "The President, Vice President, and all other civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
They should just keep impeaching Justice Department officials until one of them starts the investigation.